A Wish For The Lonely Redhead
by Artemis615
Summary: A one-shot based from my other Gaaraxoc story, The Story From Sunagakure. Basically, it's how a little Gaara met a girl who did not run from him like others did. If you like what you read, read my other story of Gaara's. It's connected. Gaaraxoc Gaara/Oc.


A/N: A little one-shot for my other GaaraxOc story, The Story From Sunagakure. This is basically how little Gaara had met Kaguya when they were young, and in my other story, it'll be _after _Gaara and Kaguya had grown up, and then the whole story is in there. If you like this one-shot, read my other one. It's connected.

**A Wish For The Lonely Redhead**

As usual, Gaara came to the playground near his home, the one that is known to be very popular for the vast and clear field of sandy ground, just right for a ball game. Kids his age often came to the playground, and, as usual, ignored his existence.

He is sitting on one of the swings alone, clutching one of the steel chains of the swing while another is occupied with his stuffed panda bear, a gift from Yashamaru. Gaara had purposefully brought his treasured stuffed panda bear along with him to the playground, intending to share it with anyone that is willing to play with him, like he had seen one boy sharing his new soft ball toy with one of the girls of Gaara's age, and immediately, they've become the best of friends, inseparable. And Gaara himself wanted that to happen to him.

He wanted a friend.

Just then, one of the kids in the playground accidentally kicked the red ball that everyone is playing with up to the cliff that no one except shinobi from the Suna village will be able to retrieve, and Gaara is eying at the red ball that now resides in one of the many craters on the cliff, wishing he could play it with everyone else.

And an idea clicked in his head.

When everyone is thinking how to get the ball down, Gaara used his power over sand to shift the red ball, right into his hand. Smiling shyly, Gaara walked towards the group of kids that is previously playing with the red ball, intending to give it back to them so that they can resume their game, secretly hoping that they will invite him to play along. But what came back instead is unexpected…

The group of kids that is playing with the red ball trembled in fear the moment Gaara started to walk toward them, and now, they're prepared to fled for their lives.

"M-Monster!" stuttered one of the kids. One word, only one word from one kid and everyone is running with tails between their legs, hoping to reach into the safety of their parents arms before the monster kill them.

Desperate for a little affection from kids his age, Gaara unintentionally used his power over sand to pull them back, only he didn't realize that he had used a little force and nearly injured one of the kids, a girl precisely, when Yashamaru came just in time to stop Gaara. Looking at every other kids that is presence in the playground at that time, Gaara walked away sadly.

Gaara is wandering around the night streets of Sunagakure at a time that no one except strong shinobi dared to step out of the safety of their home, and yet, he is here. He knew that no one will dare to come near him, for his brilliant red locks and the black rings around his eyes were quite noticeable, and that made his signature signs, a signs for a monster for the villagers, and they stayed out from the signs for their lives. Gaara had his eyebrow slanting in a sad way, and all he thought was why everyone treated him as if he's a leper when he had done nothing wrong. He badly wanted attention, in any form and in any way, just not this. Being treated as a freak is definitely not a nice thing, and he felt as if he's being cornered by the villager's constant fear for him, and he's afraid that he'll burst. His consciousness is slowly being eaten up by another 'him', deep inside his heart. Another 'him' that Gaara himself is afraid of.

Until he heard something in the air.

It was a lovely voice. A voice so lovely that the moment he heard it he begun searching for the source of the lovely voice, seeking it so desperately that he's close to crying when he can't seems to find the source of the voice. He wanted to hear it more, and get close to whomever that lovely voice belonged to. And just then, the wind stopped howling.

The voice sang out uninterrupted by the wind. So clear that he can determine where is the source of the voice. Running toward the source, he summoned what seemingly looked like a cloud of sand and hopped onto it, deciding that by doing this it'll be faster to reach the source.

The lovely voice radiated from one of the high manor in Suna, quite near his home and the Kazekage's Tower, the place where his father, the Fourth Kazekage worked as the leader of Sunagakure. His heart thrummed loudly against his ribcage as his distance with the lovely voice gets closer, and closer, and closer still, and that made his eyes sparkle with excitement. There is only another manor blocking his view from the voice, a great wall blocking his way, and he jumps up from his cloud of sand and landed on the other side of the great wall.

There, sitting on the edge of the manor's rooftop, was a little girl with long hair as dark as night. Her back was facing Gaara, and, judging from the size of her petite form, Gaara might have been lucky that day, for she might be around the same age as Gaara.

Sensing someone behind her, the little girl turned around to face that 'someone'. The first thing that came into her mind is that he looks so lonely, and his brilliant red locks clashed with the night sky, and along with the wind ruffling his red locks fondly like a mother would to her child, he's definitely not someone that's suppose to look _that _lonely.

"Hello." Said the girl, breaking the staring contest that had started unconsciously. Gaara had seen many girls from the playground, and he had never seen her around before, and he certainly never seen one looking as cute as her. The one thing that caught his interest is her doe-like pair of dark eyes. She looked far too wise for her age with that pair of eyes, and he can tell that she's from a highly respectable family, or better still, an aristocratic family, just by a single look at her outfit. Long dark red Chinese gown that reaches the floor, hands looking as if they're carefully moisturized and, somehow, Gaara is sure that hers are as smooth as porcelain to the touch, compared to his, dry and calloused. It's making him felt like as if day and night had met together. And that makes him feel strangely in shame.

Somehow, in a way or another, the little girl knew that the redhead in front of her is feeling shy with the difference of himself and herself; particularly in their hands, seeing that he is trying to hide his hand behind him and looking down onto the ground. Instinctively, the little girl move forward to Gaara and took hold of his hand, wrapping his calloused ones into hers.

Gaara was taken aback by the sudden contact of her hand with his, and tried to pull back, only to be pulled to where the little girl is pulling him to.

Pushing him, Gaara sat down on the side of the roof, where the little girl has been sitting earlier. Sitting down beside him, the little, again, took Gaara's calloused and dry hand into hers.

"Your hands are dry. Did you not apply it with cream or something?" said the girl, her voice not at all childlike like the girls in the playground had had. Hers, to Gaara, has a tinge of bell, reminding him of two glass knocking together, creating a wonderful sound to one's ears.

Stunned, Gaara shake his head.

"Well, you _need_ to take care of your hands. I know how terrible and painful it felt to have your hands all dry and cracked. How did you end up with your hands that dry anyway?" asked the girl. Gaara, stunned to speechlessness, gave neither a nod nor shake. It's practically the very first time that someone had actually talked to him that long, and didn't run from him the moment they saw him, and that, he appreciate it greatly.

Smiling at Gaara's silent antic, the little girl continued, "My guess is that you didn't touch water or liquid for hours. Suna's weather really works 'wonders' to our skin huh?"

Gaara merely smiled at her comment. Seeing him smiling, the girl can't help but to smile with him.

"I'm Kaguya by the way, Kaguya Miyagusuku. What about you?"

Shyly, Gaara replied in a small voice. "I'm Gaara, Sabaku no Gaara**.**"

"Well, nice to meet you!"

Then silence fell between them.

"Y-You're not afraid of me?" said Gaara, eyes wide in terror, fearing the time when she would go into shock and realize that she had just talked to the most feared 'monster' in the village. Kaguya didn't give him the look he's waiting for; instead, she gave him one of her eyebrow raised look.

"Should I? Well, if you think that I _should _afraid of you, then you're wrong. To me, you're just a human, and boy, do you look lonely standing there in front of me. I was shock! Lonely I am, but I never thought that someone else would be lonelier than me." Chattered Kaguya, ignoring Gaara's stunned look. She had just missed a rare facial expression from Gaara. For once, Gaara is blushing.

The silence continued. Gaara only stared at Kaguya's hands, which is moving to and fro, massaging ointment or moisturizing cream of some sort on his hand, working wonders to his dry and cracked hand. He loved the warmth of another, and it felt good, and he actually imagined that his mother is doing this for him. He wished that this newly acquired friendship of his will not wilt, then he decided to ask her.

"Pardon me for asking, but…earlier, I heard a voice, singing-"

"Oh! You heard that? I'm sorry…I kinda get into a trance for singing _that _loud-" said Kaguya, cutting Gaara's words.

"No no no…it's not loud. The wind carried your voice…I think…"

Curious, Kaguya asked Gaara. "And you found me by following my voice?"

Deciding that it's better to tell her the truth, Gaara said after a while. "…yes…"

"That's sweet of you. You're the first person ever that came to find me when I sing. The other adult shinobi, which I am pretty sure, heard my song too, but they prefer to listen them from far far away. But of course, I didn't sing to attract anyone." Admitted Kaguya, smiling ever so sweetly at Gaara. He blushed, and again, Kaguya missed it.

Head turned to admire the night sky, Kaguya murmured, "I sing for the night…"

Gaara loved to ask her something, but he's afraid that he'll interrupt her admiring at the night sky, which she seemed to love. He knew that he'll not get another chance again, so he, in a shy way, stuttered, "C-Can I…sorry…b-but this may seem a little selfish, but…c-could you…perhaps…sing that song again?"

Smiling, Kaguya picked up her guitar-like instrument and begun plucking it's string.

Lacrimosa dies illa  
Qua resurget ex favilla  
Judicandus homo reus.  
Huic ergo parce, Deus,  
Pie Jesu Domine  
Judicandus homo reus.  
Huic ergo parce, Deus,  
Pie Jesu Domine.

"Lala's Lullaby, a song for someone that is close to losing all hope. It is said that, once, a long long time ago, a land secluded from the world, is gradually dying, turning into desert slowly, for the land and the people in them is being forgotten by Gods above heavens as the time went by. To rid themselves off the suffering thoughts, the people decided to make a doll that is able to sing and dance by it's own accord. Using one of the mysterious power they've found underground, the doll, amazingly, have it's very own consciousness, putting human's, her creator, at her top priority. 500 years later, she still sing, even though there's no more human left in the land forgotten by Gods."

Ending her song and story-telling with another note of music, Kaguya's fingers left her instrument's string, eyes closed in a serene way.

Both of them continued to sit there, only when Kaguya start to yawn did Gaara realize that Kaguya would probably need her sleep. How he wished that time would stop there for a while more. Both of them had grown close at that short time, and both made a promise to return to each other again soon. But right after Gaara left, Yashamaru launched an attack on Gaara, and in the end, Yashamaru killed himself with paper bomb(or whatever it is called), hoping but failed to drag Gaara along with him to death.

And since then, Gaara never visited Kaguya. He appeared to have forgotten about her, but Kaguya still remembered him as the lonely redhead that came to her one night when she was expressing her wish, her very own little wish, which she, once again, wish that it will always be kept from Gaara, who never visited her. She knew Gaara from the moment he appeared in front of her, as she had seen him so often around the playground, sitting by the swing all alone, with everyone ignoring him. Feeling sorry for a poor soul such as Gaara, Kaguya had wished that God, or someone else, will spare his soul from suffering a terrible fate of loneliness. She swear that if no one will help him, she will, that is, if she could ever be freed from her confinement within the grounds of the Miyagusuku clan.

_Written on: 15__th __of March 2009_


End file.
